Friday Links | April 18, 2014

Friday Links | April 18, 2014 April 18, 2014

The predominantly Kurdish southeastern region of Turkey has the highest number of female mayors after the March 30 elections, partly because of a quota for women in the popular pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP). One of the new female mayors in this region is former child bride Berivan Kilic.

The controversial draft law in Iraq that would allow 9-year-old Shi’ite girls to get married has stirred controversy all over the world, but according to experts it is unlikely that this bill will be passed.

Al Jazeera features a documentary on the millions of unregistered people in Egypt, a problem that in some regions affects women in particular.

An internally displaced Muslim woman in the Central African Republic lies in a house in the town of Boda, after she lost her six-day-old baby just a day previously. Image by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters.

In the ethnically Azerbaijani village of Duzargrama in Georgia, most girls do not finish high school, as they usually get married before they reach grade 12. Some brides are as young as 13.

According to a report by an Egyptian feminist and human rights group, Egypt’s consecutive governments have not taken sufficient measures to terminate sexual violence in public spaces.

Last weekend, hundreds of Moroccan women (and men) took to the streets to demand a constitutional guarantee of gender equality, but not all Moroccans were that enthusiastic about this demonstration for gender equality.

The Indonesian National Commission on Violence against Women has called on the government to raise the legal age for marriage for girls from 16 to 18, which could help lower the country’s maternal mortality rate.

More Saudi women and girls are becoming victims of online abuse and blackmailing; a Saudi police chief has called for a crackdown on blackmailers and harsher sentences.

Despite the war raging in Syria, 19-year-old Batoul is determined to find love and get married, but the war does complicate the matter enormously.

An Iranian mother stopped the execution of her son’s killer, by a slap in the face.

Female Afghan MP Mariam Koofi was attacked by gunmen last week, after which she was hospitalized; neither she, nor her sister Fawzia Koofi, are considering quitting politics.

Many Bangsamoro women on the Filipino island of Mindanao hope that by participating in consultations and drawing attention to the needs and concerns of women, that this will be reflected in the currently drafted Bangsamoro Draft Law.

Deutsche Welle profiles policewoman Bushra Batool and her work at an all-female police station in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

The Netherlands has seen a recent rise of discrimination against Muslims; a recent incident in a local supermarket where a fully veiled woman was violently attacked, with witnesses looking on, has many worried.

Since the FIFA approved of the use of the hijab on the playing field, more young girls in Egypt have set their sights on competing in soccer at the next major international competition.

Dahlia shares her story about being a female bus driver in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta.

Female prisoners in Yemen face a difficult time in prison, but when they finished their sentences many find that they have no place to go to, as their families will not receive them.

Muslims in Malawi have demonstrated against the use of dancing Muslim women during political rallies of the People’s Party and current president Joyce Banda.

Eight years ago Faten Damrieh opened a driving school for women only in the Lebanese town of Tyre, and she has been busy ever since.


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